Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad
Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad, also known simply as SSSS, is a 1994-1995 Live-Action television series created by James Rowley, Jymn Magon, Mark Zaslove, and produced by Tsuburaya Productions, Ultracom, and DiC Entertainment. It is an inspired adaptation based off of the original Denkou Choujin Gridman. It starred Matthew Lawrence as Sam Collins, Glen Beaudin as Malcolm Frink, and Tim Curry as the voice of Kilokahn. Synopsis Sam Collins is an ordinary student while and lead of his high school band called Team Samurai. His life changes until a power surge zaps him and his video game program dubbed Servo, transforming him into a digital superhero. Meanwhile, an escaped military artificial-intelligence program strikes a deal with Malcolm Frink, another student from Sam's school, to use his digital monsters creations called Mega-Viruses to cause havoc on the electrical grid and the infrastructure, dealing serious real-life consequences that any regular computer viruses could. It's up to Sam to enter the digital world as Servo and stop Malcolm's and Kilokahn's Mega-Viruses. But not alone, he would call on the assistance of his bandmates, Amp, Sydney, and Tanker by using Arsenal Programs that can combine with Servo to even the odds. Characters Team Samurai *'Sam Collins "Sam" / Servo:' The frontman and guitarist of Team Samurai, who transforms into the digital superhero and always willing to help anyone in need or be their friend. *'Tanker:' Sam's best friend, the band's drummer, and a stereotypical jock. He was particularly adept at school sports, especially football. He had a crush on fellow Team Samurai member Sydney, especially admiring her for her intelligence. He always seemed to have a large appetite, and as evidenced in the episode "A Break in the Food Chain", he would go crazy if he didn't eat anything for a period of time. He also held a particularly strong dislike for Malcolm Frink. In Syberspace, Tanker's uniform was a black biker suit with a black helmet and a see-through visor. *'Sydney Forrester "Syd":' The band's keyboard player and the brains of the group. She is also a good singer and one of North Valley High's brightest students with a caring personality. She is the object of Tanker's affection, and the two enjoy being together. Sydney's Syberspace uniform was a pink biker suit with a gold helmet and a see-through visor. *'Amp Ere:' The team's so-called "space cadet" and the band's bass player. He became the band's bass player after revealing to the gang that his brother (who was originally intended to join them instead of Amp) was going back to college. His intelligence was curious, as he was either clueless to his surroundings or displayed some unusual intellect. He had an unorthodox way of performing tasks, such as writing in a notebook using his toes or studying by eating book pages with milk and sugar. To enter Syberspace, he always used a different phrase to be humorous. Amp's uniform consisted of a helicopter helmet and leather jacket. It is later revealed that Amp is really an alien and returns to his own planet with his parents offscreen. *'Lucky London:' A surfer and Amp's replacement in Team Samurai. His attitude was often laid-back, sometimes to the dismay of Principal Pratchert. In Syberspace, Lucky's uniform consisted of a red and white Jet Ski helmet with a black visor and lifejacket. Villains *'Kilokahn (Kilometric Knowledge-base Animate Human Nullity):' A military artificial intelligence program who unleashes computer viruses to attack major computer systems. He derisively refers to humans as "meat-things." Kilokahn considers himself the ruler of the digital world and also wishes to take over the real world starting with the world's computer network. *'Malcolm Frink:' A black-gard loner and sociopath who attends North Valley High School. He finds companionship in Kilokahn in which the AI brings to life his Mega Virus monsters designs, and enjoys the destruction and hurting of other people. Supporting characters * '''Jennifer "Jen" Doyle' - Sam's on-again/off-again girlfriend and a cheerleader at North Valley High School. Malcolm tries to compete for her affections. In the alternate version, Jen is a genius who like Malcolm befriended and helped Sam get back to his normal universe. * Principal Pratchert - The school principal who is usually strict, particularly when dealing with antics caused by either Sam Collins and/or Malcolm Frink. When his daughter lost the student council presidency to Malcolm in "The President's a Frink," he initially refused to recount the votes when Malcolm commented it would make the Education Board suspect he was playing favorites and only could do so when he agreed that Malcolm could use his parking space should he remain victor. Pratchert would reconsider recounting the votes when Mrs. Starkey wisely suggested he does so not only for the sake of his job, but also his daughter Yolanda. He does and it was revealed Malcolm rigged the votes using Skorn so he can win, so Pratchert punishes him by making him move his car out of his parking space and an undisclosed time in detention. In "Pratchert's Radical Departure", it was revealed that Pratchert used to be a hippie when he was younger. Malcolm used this to his advantage by creating a Mega-Virus monster that made Pratchert think he was a hippie again, much to the delight of Lucky London (at least until the Mega-Virus monster was destroyed by Servo). * Mrs. Rimba "Cha-Cha" Starkey - The cafeteria lunch lady who often cracks jokes relating to the poor quality of the food she serves, such as enjoying her hobby of riding her motorcycle and being married multiple times. She also seemed to have an affinity for Dennis Quaid, as mentioned in a few episodes. Mrs. Starkey is the only faculty member in North Valley High School that doesn't like Malcolm. When Pratchert was depressed over Yolanda refusing to talk to him, Starkey wisely suggested he does the right thing and recount the votes and admits her suspicion that the voting was rigged. After the voting recount and although Mrs. Starkey pretended to forget suggesting it, she is touched that Pratchert does value her opinion. * Yolanda "Yoli" Pratchert - The principal's daughter and Jennifer's closest friend. She's North Valley High School's student council president, a position she temporarily lost in "The President's a Frink" when Malcolm cheated his way into office (with the help of a virus) but she regained it when Principal Pratchert recounts the votes after Servo defeats the virus sent to change the results. In the episode "What Rad Universe!," an alternate dimension version of Yolanda found companionship in Kilokahn making her that dimension's version of Malcolm Frink while the Malcolm Frink of that dimension was a good person much like the real Yoli and Sam. * Elizabeth "Liz" Collins - Sam's "unseen" kid sister who communicates with her brother off screen through a laundry chute connected from the upstairs. She always plays pranks on her older brother, usually dropping things on top of him through the chute. Liz has shown she does care for Sam and drops a ton of cookies to share with him. Episodes # To Protect and Servo # Samurize # Samurize, Guys! # Amp Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! # An Un-Helping Hand # His Master's Voice # Some Like it Scalding # Mal-Kahn-Tent # The Cold Shoulder # Que Sera Servo # A Break in the Food Chain # Ashes to Ashes Disk to Disk # Lights, Camera, Action # Sweet and Sour Kilokahn # To Sleep, Perchance to Scream # Out of Sight, Out of Time # Money for Nothin' & Bits for Free # Water You Doing? # Just Brown & Servo # My Virus Ate My Homework # Hello Darkness, My Old Friend # Born With a Jealous Mind # Cheater, Cheater, Megabyte Eater # Romeo & Joule-watt # Rock n' Roll Virucide # Stiff as a Motherboard # Pride Goeth Before a Brawl # Starkey in Syberspace # Hair I Stand, Head in Hand # Portrait of Artist as a Young Virus # The Taunt Heard Round the World # Tanks for the Memories # Love Me Don't # Syberteria Combat # Over the River & Through the Grid # Do Not Reboot 'Til Christmas # Kilo Is Coming to Town # Hide and Servo # Little Ditch, Big Glitch # Hasta la Virus, Baby # Give 'Til It Megahertz # The President's a Frink! # Beep My, Beep My Baby # Forget You! # Loose Lips Sink Microchips # It's Magic # Pratchert's Radical Departure # Foreign Languages # Truant False # Lucky's Unlucky Adventure # What Rad Universe # Syber-Dunk # Take a Hike Media Release In 1995, Buena Vista Home Video (under the DIC Toon Time Video label) released the series for home release on three VHS cassettes each containing two episodes. On February 19, 2013, Mill Creek Entertainment released the series, Volume 1 on DVD in Region 1 for the first time. The 3-disc set features the first 28 episodes of the series. On October 1, 2013 Mill Creek Entertainment released Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad, Volume 2 on DVD containing the remaining 25 episodes. The series was then available for online streaming on an online video site called Jaroo, operated by Cookie Jar Entertainment which later merged with DIC. During 2013, Cookie Jar was taken over by DHX Media and the Jaroo site closed down as a result, but DHX Media mentioned that the site and its shows while be relocated. As of February 2016, the series could be streamed through Pluto TV on the "After School Cartoons" channel 370. Category:Shows Category:Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad